Let's face it. Even the world's best cultural offerings aren't necessarily the most popular ones. In the US, support for arts and culture exists within a vacuum, and its future is constantly in turmoil. If this bugs you as much as it should, we'd like to help get past that frustration, and get you noticed by a loyal following willing to provide the necessary support for a secure future.
The moment at which an arts organization deserves to be considered indispensable–through demonstrated commitment to its communities with tangible results–is the point at which its future is best assured. It will also represent a pivotal milestone for the community, ensuring far greater health and productivity as well as better, more fulfilling lives for all who are members of it. AE’s Community Engagement Training provides various levels of training–beginning, advanced, and “trainer training”–in the “how to” of community engagement.
“It was a pleasure to work with Doug as part of the first Community Engagement Cohort. Doug might say those of us in the program were guinea pigs that he tried out his Community Engagement program ideas on, but in fact I received such an incredible education and have stayed in contact with several of the others in the program, utilizing his well thought out strategies and theories with success. He is a fantastic instructor and really has a deep understanding of the challenges inherent in building strong, sustainable Community Engagement Programming. However, for all the challenges one might present him with, he has tremendous skill, creativity, and experience in how to solve those challenges!”
Choose a Package
Understanding Engagement
1 session
This training is designed for board members, upper level staff of arts organizations, anyone else wishing to better understand community engagement as it applies to the arts. It introduces basic concepts of and rationales for community engagement.
Pricing for Community Engagement Network members: Individual: $75. Self-organized teams: $600 for up to 12.
Here’s the free self-guided content: Understanding Engagement
CET Cohort
5 sessions
This training is designed for anyone (organization-based teams or individuals) interested in helping arts organizations connect more deeply with their communities. It emphasizes the means of implementing a community engagement agenda.
Pricing for Community Engagement Network members: Individual: $250. Self-organized teams: $1750 for up to 12.
Want to see what it’s like?
Here’s the content of Unit 1: Understanding Engagement
CET Trainer
4 sessions +
Follow Up sessions as needed
This training is for individuals who have completed CET Cohort Training and would like to become trainers. They will develop skills in preparing others to lead arts organizations to more effective community engagement.
Pricing for CET Cohort alumni who are Community Engagement Network members: $500
Training Overview
Course content can be delivered either entirely via video conference or in a combination of face-to-face workshop with video conference follow up. The units are presented via an online learning management system. The video conference and workshop function as debriefing mechanisms for the content learned.
Getting your board on board
Boards of Directors are the governing bodies of nonprofit arts organizations. They determine mission and set policy. They serve, by and large, because the organization–as it is–is meaningful to them. As a result they can be (understandably) disinclined to press for change. However, to be effective, community engagement must be a mission-level commitment. It is imperative that arts boards be “on board” about community engagement before substantive progress can be made.
are you ready?
Before attempting to develop relationships with external communities, it is vital to be certain that the organization is ready to do so. Significant pockets of resistance will derail efforts as will inordinate focus on organizational self-interest regardless of whether those attitudes are consciously held.
mainstreaming engagement
Successful transformative community engagement demands a mission-level commitment on the part of every element of an arts organization. Every facet of the work, every constituency can and should play a part. Fortunately, change can (and ought to) occur gradually, and initial steps largely involve relatively simple changes in habits of mind.
Understanding engagement
A study of community engagement (or anything else, for that matter) must begin with an understanding of terminology and basic principles. With community engagement, however, there is also a great deal of misunderstanding of its impact on arts organizations and even its implications for art itself. This section addresses definitions and principles as well as the misunderstanding that make some reluctant to consider community engagement work.
the process of engagement
Very few arts organization staff members, board members, or volunteers have preparation in working with people (much less communities) who are not arts friendly. In addition, the process of engagement is often foreign. To be effective, participants must prepare and plan for developing relationships with people who are not already convinced of the value of the arts in their lives.
Like any action-oriented industry, the world of the arts is predisposed to do–and do quickly–once a decision is made. It would be a mistake, however, to go too far without adequate preparation. For communities with no history (or, worse, negative experiences) with the arts, efforts that appear half-hearted, insincere, or “tone deaf” can do more harm than good.
Working with communities
True mutually beneficial collaborations between arts organizations and communities are not common. There are some who might call them unnatural acts. But effective community engagement demands them and in order to participate, arts organizations need to develop skills in working with communities, skills that are not a traditional part of training in the arts or arts administration.
